Anna Smol: A Single Leaf

Category: Medieval

  • Grendel’s Mother Talks Back

    “Grendel’s Mother Talks Back: Contemporary Women’s Mythopoeic Revisions” is a talk I gave for the Midsummer Online Seminar of the Mythopoeic Society in August. A link to the recorded talk is included.

  • Tolkien at IMC Leeds 2025

    Tolkien studies sessions at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds, 2025.

  • Shortlisted for a Tolkien Society Best Article Award!

    I’m thrilled to find that my article “Tolkien, The Battle of Maldon, and The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth: Poetic Allusions and the Experience of Time” has been shortlisted for a Tolkien Society Award! Voting for TS members open until Friday 25 April.

  • Two new articles on Tolkien’s ‘The Homecoming’

    Two new articles on Tolkien’s ‘The Homecoming’

    Links to two articles available for free download on J.R.R. Tolkien’s play, “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth” and a video recording of a conference presentation on Tolkien as a playwright. These essays discuss manuscript revisions, ideas about drama, and allusions to medieval poetry.

  • A link to my latest post on Tolkien & Alliterative Verse

    Please follow along at tolkienalliterative.ca if you’re interested in the alliterative poems Tolkien wrote. My research assistants and I are building a bibliography of Tolkien’s alliterative verse, some online guides to alliterative metre, and links to some of Tolkien’s notes on the topic. You’ll also find an occasional blog post on what’s new in this…

  • Upcoming deadlines: CfPs in Tolkien studies

    We’re still enjoying summer weather here in Nova Scotia, but let’s face it, fall is just around the corner, and with it, some deadlines for Tolkien scholars interested in presenting their research at conferences in the coming year.  If you don’t intend to propose anything, you still might want to browse the topics that people…

  • Tolkien studies in Leeds 2023

    Programs have now been announced for two events to take place next month in Leeds, making the first week of July a great time to listen to presentations on Tolkien, either in person if you’re able to make it to Leeds in the UK or online for everyone else. The Tolkien Society always sponsors its…

  • New website: Tolkien and Alliterative Verse

    I’ve just launched a new website designed as a research resource for anyone interested in Tolkien’s alliterative poetry: Tolkien and Alliterative Verse at https://tolkienalliterative.ca. How much alliterative verse did Tolkien write? Check out our Descriptive Bibliography. What is alliterative verse? We’ve got Some Online Guides to Alliterative Metre to illustrate this medieval English style of…

  • Calls for Papers on Tolkien for 2023

    If you’re working on Tolkien, you might want to consider submitting a proposal for a talk at one of next year’s international medieval conferences. The deadlines are coming closer! Call for Papers, due August 31, for the IMC (International Medieval Congress) at the University of Leeds. Papers can be delivered in person or online. The…

  • Leeds is the place to be next week for Tolkien talks

    Although I wish I could be in Leeds this coming week to see friends and attend Tolkien sessions in person, I will be settling for the next best thing, zooming in from home. Two events occur annually in Leeds, and this year they are both in hybrid formats: the Tolkien Society Seminar on Sunday, July…